


A Sanctuary of Sorts

by amoama



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-04
Updated: 2013-08-04
Packaged: 2017-12-22 09:45:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/911770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amoama/pseuds/amoama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kareen's pregnancy has led to increased security and increased intimacy between Kareen and Drou, her bodyguard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [Philomytha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Philomytha/pseuds/Philomytha) in the [Bujold_Ficathon_2013](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Bujold_Ficathon_2013) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
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> For a long time, Drou was the only person Kareen could trust. Femslash would be very welcome, or gen if you prefer.
> 
> Warning: References to domestic violence.

It was a quiet afternoon in the Residence. Kareen repeated her mantra: _one boy from him is enough. One boy for Barrayar._ That had been her promise to Ezar, and his to her. She walked slowly through the richly carpeted foyer and up the stairs. It had been a good day. There was no point in ruining it now by running into her husband. She had meant to time it better, aiming to return after Serg had left for the evening, but his ImpSec perimeter was still in place. There was no sign he’d left his suite at all today. 

Kareen had dragged her heels as much as possible, insisting on a thorough tour of the state-of-the-art obstetrics department after her private birthing-prep class. Tomorrow she had an appointment to meet the head of the Imperial College of midwifery. No point rushing it all when there were so many new excuses to take her out of the Residence. 

Drou ghosted down the corridor at Kareen’s right shoulder. Kareen wasn’t sure her bodyguard was even breathing; Drou was so silent she dampened all other sounds. It’s not fear, Kareen told herself, just good sense. _Don’t wake the beast._

They made it safely to Kareen’s rooms and the sharp click of the door sealing shut both startled and reassured her. The locks were new since the pregnancy. Captain Negri’s orders over-rode all of the codes Serg’s men carried. She didn’t even know them herself. Apparently she couldn’t be trusted to protect the heir should Serg come to claim his spousal rights. Kareen looked at Drou whose alert stance was decompressing a little now that they were inside their sanctuary. 

Ezar, Negri and Drou: the only people with the ability to disrupt her privacy now.

Kareen wondered who protected Drou, who watched for her weaknesses. Too many nights now Drou had stood at the door, blocking Kareen’s frustrated husband in no uncertain terms. Surely it was just a matter of time before Serg hit upon some creative way to break Drou. Kareen knew all too well she wasn’t allowed the comfort of having friends. She tried never to acknowledge Drou in Serg’s presence, but everyone knew how she’d pushed for female guards, in those early, foolhardy years - before she realized the cost of showing an interest in something. When Drou had been appointed the smile on Serg’s face had sickened Kareen. Only his fear of Negri – his father’s Familiar – had kept him from acting already. 

Drou had a small fold-out cot that she pulled out in front of the doorway every night. She and Kareen had taken to sharing the bathroom rather than enforce the strict separation of Princess and servant. Months of this intimacy had dissolved any awkwardness or inhibition around each other when it came to their bodies. They both delighted in monitoring every change in Kareen’s swelling midriff. The first time Drou had bent her ear to Kareen’s belly, hands firm against her waist, Kareen had felt a kick of pleasure; the long submerged sense of enchantment in her own body finally rising back out of the coffin Serg had consigned it to. 

Kareen stood in front of the mirror. At 16 weeks the Imperial Fetus was making a significant impact on Kareen’s figure. Her formerly-slender outline now featured a rather bubble-like protrusion that endlessly fascinated Kareen, and the general Barrayaran public too, if the amount gossip and holovid “news” items dedicated to it was anything to go by. In her more melancholic moments Kareen had taken to poking at the bubble with her fingernail and making popping noises while desolately visualizing the hopes of an Empire and her dreams of freedom collapse down around her. _This child is my salvation._

Drou joined her in front of the mirror. She’d already changed into the gym suit she preferred to wear for bed. Drou turned side on, offering her slim, toned outline as a control measure for Kareen’s pregnancy analysis. 

“How’s our precious cargo coming along today?” Drou asked, reaching out to massage Kareen’s back a little, the way the birth-trainer had shown her earlier. There’d been no question Drou would be there for the birth. 

“Good I think,” Kareen smiled as her hands skittered over the baby inside her, reassuring herself of his continued presence there. The small disc towards the right of the curve monitored his heartbeat at all times, sending vitals to her wristcom and to three different doctors, one of whom now lived in the residence full-time. If anything went wrong… 

Drou’s elbow dug into the small of her back and the brief easing of pressure on her spine drew Kareen back into the moment. She let out a small sigh and turned back to Drou. “Let’s eat in here tonight. I fancy watching some old martial arts holovid or something equally mindless.”

Drou threw her the expected “martial arts are not mindless” look, which Kareen knew well from the endless lectures she had endured when Drou taught her Tai Chi Chuan. Kareen smiled at the memory and at the easy acquiescence to another night not venturing out of their small refuge. Maybe later Drou could check that Ges had come for Serg and they could venture out for an evening walk in the Imperial Gardens. Tai Chi in the twilight, breathing together with slow drawn out movements as the stars came out above them; that was something they both enjoyed when they got the chance. 

They had some dinner brought up and watched an old vid that had been famous in its day for its upholding of Vor values. _Vorkaya’s Worth_ depicted the titular Vorkaya killing his own daughter after she betrayed him to the Prole revolutionary husband she’d been forbidden to marry. Such a film would cause uproar now, even on Barrayar, or Kareen hoped it would anyway, but the fighting scenes were still good, especially as the girl playing the daughter got to do so much of it. At the end Drou jumped off the couch and spent several minutes demonstrating the moves she would have used to take down the supposedly “brokenhearted but righteous” Vor father. 

Kareen settled herself back against the pillows and watched with glee as Drou performed perfectly choreographed fight sequences one after the other. Every movement was powerful and contained and Kareen focused on Drou’s fluid, purposeful motion; mesmerized by every switch in balance and each careful footfall. 

It was probably dangerous to be this reliant on one other person, Kareen knew, but then, what choice did she have? It was Drou or no one, and she thought, probably, she would have chosen Drou over anyone else anyway. 

Drou kept up her drills until eventually, covered in sweat and breathing a little heavier, she came to a stop at Kareen’s feet. Kareen held out her hand and let Drou heave her up. It wasn’t that she was much heavier now but she was already beginning to feel it: the ache in her back and joints just a preview of the months to come. Standing toe to toe like the slight difference in their heights was easily marked, just the swelling presence of the new Prince between them. Drou’s breath skittered a little as she stepped back and ran a hand through her sweat-dampened hair. Kareen laughed at her, trying to distill the sudden fizzle of tension in the air, “Go get in the shower again, you can’t go to sleep like that.” 

Drou went and Kareen clambered into her huge Imperial bed and commanded the lights off in a low voice, letting the darkness settle around her and the sound of the shower jet in the next room soothe her. She waited, listening for the evidence of Drou toweling and dressing and slipping back into the room, using her wristcom as a light to cross the room. 

“Drou,” Kareen called out towards the spot of blue light. Drou stopped moving in response. The light flicked off, so Kareen briefly couldn’t see anything at all.

“Drou, come sleep up here tonight.” It wasn’t the first time she’d said those words, in fact she’d been asking more and more frequent lately. Kareen didn’t know why she felt more secure with Drou sleeping beside her rather than in front of the door but she did and that was all there was to it. 

Kareen couldn’t hear anything until Drou drew up the covers on the far side of the bed, rolling herself in almost to the middle, ending up about ten inches away from Kareen. Kareen still had to listen hard to catch the sound of Drou breathing in and out.

“So,” Drou asked eventually, her voice soft over the darkness, “What are we discussing tonight?” 

Kareen grinned, pleased, and offered in the hushed tone of someone who knows she’s about to suggest something entirely wicked, “Uterine replicators!” 

Drou groaned into her pillow but Kareen gave a little hiccup of delight, “Dr Janos told me today he’s thinking of having one shipped to Barrayar for research purposes. He said the genetic cleaning they do on some planets could wipe out mutation and lessen criminal tendencies in most people. Imagine! Maybe if I’d waited I could have neutralized all the Serg-ness in the baby from the start.”

“We’re going to do that anyway, you know that,” Drou responded, her tone determined for all that it was a whisper, “Besides it doesn’t sound all that plausible to me.” 

“I know,” Kareen did know the seriousness of her task, that was why she was so grateful to have Drou to help her, but that wasn’t for tonight. She reached for Drou’s hand under the covers, grasped it, keen to share her enthusiasm for the topic, “But Drou, I just… it’s so interesting to consider the possibilities…”

Drou squeezed her hand in encouragement, “Do tell.” Kareen could hear the smiling indulgence in Drou's tone and launched gleefully into her latest pet topic.


	2. Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hormones, yay? Kareen is horny in bed with Drou. Pregnancy sex.
> 
> n.b. unnecessary porn chapter is unnecessary. :S

Drou had let Kareen talk at her for a couple of hours. They’ve been silent, drifting towards sleep for a while. It’s dark and Kareen feels safe and silly for the first time in far too long. And hot. She feels like her body is alive again, sending her signals and demanding things of her that she thought she would never feel again. She feels achingly open, her legs rub against each other full of weird, restless energy. 

Kareen lets her arm run slowly down the side of her body, she’s lying on her front, with her leg angled to the side to avoid too much weight on her belly. Her hand drifts protectively over her bump and then down between her legs. She rubs her fingers softly, over her panties, and sighs in relief at the simple satisfaction the movements bring her. Her hand feels cool against the heat of herself there. She feels the wetness already beginning to seep through the material of her underwear and she ducks her fingers under the seam, tracing around her opening with two fingers and then finding her clitoris. With the first rush of sensation she flicks her eyes up to meet Drou’s. The darkness doesn’t really hide the heat in Drou’s wide open eyes and the bed shifts slightly as Drou moves up closer to Kareen. 

Kareen flicks her fingers compulsively over her most sensitive area and she feels herself lean towards Drou without ever giving herself permission to do so. It feels so natural for them to be kissing that she hardly registers the impact of the kiss beginning, just the bounce of approval her body responds with. Drou kisses deep and generously, allowing Kareen to revel in the gorgeous decadence of her own body. Drou rolls Kareen onto her back, smoothly covering Kareen with her own body so there’s not one moment where Kareen feels exposed. Drou’s hands fumble a little as they start to touch Kareen, her left arm is positioned carefully beside Kareen’s waist, holding Drou’s weight up easily, her right hand moves gingerly down Kareen’s neck, over her shoulder and collarbone before reaching her breast. Kareen lets Drou move away from their kiss to look down at her hand, feels the shaky breath escape out between them. She sees Drou trying to take in what’s happening between them, the reality of Drou’s hand on Kareen’s breast, servant and Princess, but Kareen doesn’t care for it. It’s the midnight hour and her body wants, at long last, it wants again. She brings her hand up to place it over Drou’s, presses it down firmly over her left breast.

“Please, Drou,” She gets out before Drou leans down to kiss her hand and then moves her lips to the nipple, large and hard between their fingers. Kareen’s breasts are heavy and tender but Drou seems to know that already, her lips and tongue brush carefully over Kareen’s skin, soothing and teasing together. It makes Kareen ache more, the kind of ache you want to wallow in, stretching it out because it’s such a lazy, luxurious feeling. Her legs widen, drawing themselves up around Drou in automatic response. For once Kareen feels like her body is pre-programmed to respond to this, she doesn’t have to tell it what to do, what her reaction is supposed to be to such attention. 

Drou’s hand slips down her body, fitting over Kareen’s own hand, hovering at her entrance. Drou adds her own pressure to Kareen’s movements before moving her fingers between Kareen’s to push inside. First one, then a second. Kareen allows herself a moment’s discomfort and the inevitable flash of unwelcome memories before focusing back on Drou, her one friend in all of this. Kareen draws her in for a kiss, the comfortable taste of her, fresh and warm and so, so wanted. She feels her body arch up, fit itself around Drou’s fingers, drawing them up inside of her. Her own fingers still working too, keeping all her nerve endings alert at the edge of ecstasy. 

Kareen pictures herself floating out of this cruel palace, after all she is becoming more and more boat-like by the day. Rising up on a sea of orgasms. (She can’t be responsible for where her mind takes her at moments like these.) She tries to find her way back into her body, hears the heavy gasping breaths her body is hauling in, preparing itself to lose control. She rides the tip of the wave for as long as she can, her fingers circling fervently at her clit, Drou’s three fingers sliding in and out of her, strong and inexorable, and Kareen tightens around them as the tension in her body suddenly releases and she falls through waves of dark, heady pleasure that leave her dizzy and slow. She’s left panting into Drou’s hair, feeling every last pulse of her orgasm. Hormones, fantastic, she thinks as she pulls Drou up alongside her body and rolls them both onto their sides. She’s so disgustingly sweaty and their fingers are both covered in her own wetness but she holds them together and whispers her thanks to her beautiful, willing, trusted protector and friend. 

They won’t talk about it in the morning. It will just be there between them, an act of love and openness and shelter that binds them together in this in a way words can’t.


End file.
